Helen Adam

San Francisco's Burning (1963)

A lyric play written by Helen and Pat Adam, and performed by the Audio-Experimental Theatre on WBAI, July 17, 1977. Produced by Charles Ruas.

Part I

• Section 1 (12:10): MP3
• Section 2 (9:59): MP3
• Section 3 (7:17): MP3
• Section 4 (13:39): MP3
• Section 5 (8:08): MP3
• Section 6 (8:18): MP3
• Section 7 (8:48): MP3

Part II

• Section 1 (9:00): MP3
• Section 2 (8:21): MP3
• Section 3 (11:48): MP3
• Section 4 (6:59): MP3
• Section 5 (7:59): MP3
• Section 6 (9:01): MP3
• Section 7 (8:48): MP3
• Section 8 (9:23): MP3

Part III

• Section 1 (8:26): MP3
• Section 2 (7:42): MP3
• Section 3 (6:27): MP3
• Section 4 (9:12): MP3

Cast

• Helen Adam (reading Miss Mackie Rhodus and Anubis)
• Pat Adam (reading Susan Pettigrew)
• Marilyn Hacker (reading the Countess of Barth Malone)
• Robert Hershon (reading Spangler Jack)
• Barbara Wise (reading the Lovely Mrs. Valentine)
• Peter Fleur
• William Packard
• Martin L.H. Rhymert
• Daniel Haberman
• William Trapp
• Arthur Williams
• Rob Noah Wynne

Adapted for Radio by Helen Adam, with musical assistance by Rob Noah Wynne
Technical direction by Manoli Weatherow and David Rapkin
Produced by Charles Ruas for WBAI

The complete libretto to San Francisco's Burning was published by Hanging Loose Press in 1985.

Read Kristin Prevallet's Notes on San Francisco's Burning from A Helen Adam Reader (2007)

On Susan Howe's Pacifica Radio Program, 1977-1978 performing her work, and in conversation with Susan Howe and Charles Ruas

1. Ballad of the Hawthorn Bower (4:20): MP3
2. introduction (1:03): MP3
3. on her childhood in Scotland (8:39): MP3
4. on moving to San Francisco, "San Francisco's Burning," and writing ballads aloud (6:28): MP3
5. In and Out of the Horn-Beam Maze (5:38): MP3
6. on her favorite painters (2:17): MP3
7. on Allen Ginsberg, Jack Spicer, Open Space, and the atmosphere of San Francisco (4:11): MP3
8. At the Window (1:12): MP3
9. on gothic romances, magic, and the relationship between love and death (5:44): MP3
10. on Henry VIII's wives and ruthlessness (2:24): MP3
11. The Fair Young Wife (6:08): MP3
12. on madness, the Elizabethan era, and reincarnation (3:02): MP3
13. on Yeats, George MacDonald, and Robert Duncan (6:55): MP3
14. A Walk in the Wind (1:42): MP3

"Cheerless Junkie's Song" on YouTube

Helen Adam on PennSound Daily

• August 5, 2009: "A Helen Adam Sampler"
• November 3, 2007: "Helen Adam's San Francisco's Burning"

© 2007 by Helen and Pat Adam. These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. All rights to this recorded material belong to the authors. Used with permission of the authors. Distributed by PennSound.